If you missed the June 17 Conversations on Race and Police event, held on Zoom, the program is now archived and available for viewing at the CSUSB History Club Lecture Series YouTube channel.

Robin D.G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor of History & Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, was the special guest, joining Daisy Ocampo, assistant professor of history at CSUSB beginning in the fall; Ahlam Muhtaseb, professor of media studies at CSUSB; Troy Williams, a Ph.D. candidate in Civil Society & Community Research at the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Roberto (Bobby) River, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at UC Riverside.

CSUSB students Marlo Brooks, Kameron Pyant and Yvette Relles-Powell hosted the event. The series is organized by CSUSB faculty members Marc Robinson and Jeremy Murray (history), Mary Texeira (sociology), and Robie Madrigal, public affairs/communication specialist for the CSUSB John M. Pfau Library.

The third panel discussion and conversation in the series came in the aftermath of the death George Floyd while in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers on May 25. A video of the incident posted on social media  has led to widespread protests, the firing of four police officers, the arrest of one officer on a second-degree murder charge, and the other three on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Floyd’s death is the latest in which race and policing have become a source of major debates, if not flashpoints for protests.

The June 17 program was the latest in a series CSUSB has held to discuss race, racism and police brutality, and share possible solutions, in the wake Floyd’s death.

On June 16, at 1 p.m., the College of Arts and Letters presented “Structural Racism, Civil Disobedience, and the Road to Racial Justice in the Age of COVID-19,” which is also posted on YouTube.

Previous forums, “Race and Policing, A Panel Presentation and CSUSB Campus Conversation” on June 3 and “Conversations on Race and Policing (2), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion” on June 10 can be viewed on YouTube. The university’s June 9 memorial for Floyd also focused on the Black Lives Matter movement.